Internet Hoaxes
The Internet is a fast and convenient way of sending and obtaining information,
but it's also a very easy way to spread misinformation. And new hoaxes pop
up almost every day about anything from shocking celebrity deaths to mystery
objects in foods. Here are three examples of Internet hoaxes.
Pay what you weigh
On April 1, 2011, New Zealand Air began advertising a one-day fare sale-pay
what you weigh. The airline's website offered visitors a chance to pay a dollar
amount that was equal to their weight in kilograms. The idea was "more weight =
more fuel = more cost" and many people believed it. The promotion brought
thousands of visitors to the company's website and became a popular news story.
In the end, though, the promotion turned out to be an April Fool's1 joke.
Croc on the loose
While the streets of New Orleans
were still flooded after a terrible
hurricane, a frightening email
was sent around the Internet.
It included a photograph of an
immense crocodile over five
meters long. According to the
message, it had been swimming
around the flooded city eating
people. It was later discovered
that the photographs of the
crocodile were of one that was
caught in the Congo2 years before.
Earn money through emails
The following email hoax fooled many people. The sender claims that a large
company will pay you to send their email to as many people as possible.
For every person that you send the email to, the company promises you will
receive $5; for every person that person sends it to, you'll get $3; and for every
third person those people send it to, you will be paid $1. To make the lie even
more believable, the sender says that at first he thought it was a hoax, but the
company soon sent him $800.
1 April Fool's Day is celebrated as a day when people play tricks and hoaxes on each other.
2 The Congo is an area in Africa.
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